InQubation
by LalSoong1687
Summary: Q decides Shannara is ready to know her creator.


**"InQubation"**

**A Star Trek:The Next Generation Story**

By Lal Soong

**Author's Forward: This is the first of several "branch" stories in the Trip to Nowhere AU. It takes place concurrently with the chapter "IQ." You should be able to read it either before or after "IQ" without any confusion.**

He had waited for this moment for an eternity and a heartbeat. The time had risen to outline his house; define his lineage. _She is ready,_ Q decided, surprised by his own eagerness. Not even he had realized how much this had meant to him. The little girl was his. He had created the very fabric of her universe just so she _could_ exist. Had he ever really had any doubts that Shannara was worthy of his nurturing? Oh, Q had chastised him for creating his own universe, pointing out that there were enough parallel universes for any Q to explore for infinity.

True. Quite true.

But Q could never just settle for what God had created and so Q had left him to his own devices. She figured, as always, that Q would bring about his own undoing.

He watched Shannara for a moment, playing with her dolls. He knew why she was here, trapped in her room. The misunderstood had always been punished throughout time. He had not given her the gift so she could go unnoticed, her only company dolls. Oh, how he could teach her to play with bigger toys! Already, he had given her a taste of the power of the Q, a small portion, but nonetheless he hoped she had received it well. Now it was time to offer Shannara a larger dosage.

Sealing her room (and quite possibly her fate) in an impenetrable sound barrier, Q popped into her room and made his presence known. "Ask and ye wish shall be granted."

Turning around, brown eyes wide with shock, Shannara screamed.

"Your Mommy can't hear you," he told her. "I've surrounded your room with a sound barrier. Allow me to demonstrate." Q turned toward the door and began pounding on the wall. "Mommy are you listening? " After several seconds, he stopped, and turning around with his arms extended said, "See? It's really for your own good."

After darting her eyes fleetingly from Q to the door and back again, the girl must have realized that her Mommy really wasn't coming to the rescue. "Wh-who are you?" She was nearly hyperventilating.

"Do not be frightened of me, Shannara. I have not come to harm you. Oh my child, my task here is quite irrefutably the opposite. I am your guardian angel. I have come from a place known as the Continuum to offer you my wisdom."

The child cowered behind her bed, clutching her doll to her chest. "No you're not! I want my Mommy!"

How touching, Q thought sarcastically. Yet to his own surprise, he actually smiled reassuringly at the girl. "I'm here to provide my services to you so you may not stray from the path I have chosen for you. I have been watching over you very closely since the day you were born. Now it is time to cut the ties that bind you to this lowly existence. You are ready for extreme possibilities. A Magic pencil is only the tip of what I have to offer you."

"M-magic pencil?" she stammered. "You gave me that. Why?"

"Just a little taste, a prelude to what I have to offer you. Would you like to see more?"

"No. Go away!"

"That only works on holograms and little girls." Q knew about the incident with Tammy. The power he had bestowed in Shannara had worked well to her advantage. But why was he now seeing guilt in her eyes? "Perhaps a change of scenery will placate you." Q snapped his fingers and suddenly they were standing in a meadow at nightfall. "This is a quiet place I like to go," he explained even as Shannara resumed her screams and searched around frantically for protection. "Well, not so quiet today. There really is nothing that can harm you here, my dear child. If you would just stop . . . .and listen."

Shannara fell silent, although she continued to watch the strange entity with a leery eye. She cocked her head sideways, silence greeting her ears. "Where are we? Are we in another dimension?"

"Score one point for you. This place was created by another member of the Continuum, but he lets me visit now and again." I'll have to be sure to inform Q on how wrong she was, Q thought. This child will not be my undoing. This child will be my shining star! Several millennium had past since the last Q had been introduced to the Continuum, and Q was so looking forward to fathering the next. "Do you like the feel of rain?" Q asked as he produced a soft drizzle. "Many young mortals enjoy playing in it. Imagine!" He chuckled. "Do you enjoy the rain, Shannara?"

"Oh yes!" she exclaimed. Relaxing a bit, the girl held out her arm to catch some of the rain. A slight smile formed on her lips.

"Perhaps you would find snow even more fascinating."

The rain grew colder and began coming down in flakes.

"Stick out your tongue and catch the snowflakes, Shannara."

She did as instructed. "They're melting in my mouth," she said with delight.

"See, I only offer you what you desire. How many times have your parents allowed you to plant your feet in the soil? To run through the grass? I reiterate, I mean you no harm. I only offer you what your parents refuse to give you."

She began twirling around in a silly snow dance with her doll, still catching snowflakes with her darting tongue.

"I can show you how to dance among the stars. . . . .to travel anywhere in the universe in a blink of an eye. You don't have to settle for this meager existence, trapped on a starship."

After a time, she became dizzy and hobbled toward Q, maintaining only a slight distance between them. Good, he thought. Soon, he would have her sitting on his lap listening to the myths of the Continuum. Then the real lesson could begin.

"My parents never let me go anywhere. They go on away missions, and they make me stay with a babysitter. You would really take me anywhere?"

With a flick of his wrist, Q ended the snow. "Absolutely anywhere."

"They won't even let me go to school anymore," she announced.

"You should be delighted. I know how you despise school." Q wanted to tell her that that didn't matter anymore. She was far too superior for any school created by mere mortals. She needed a mentor and Q was ready to play the part. The appropriate moment would arrive if he bided his time, waited for the girl to make the next advancement.

"But a girl vanished because of me!"

Q clutched at his chest in mock concern. "Oh the poor dear you sent into oblivion-the one who taunted you, bullied you. Due cause was carried out; your actions were justified. And now you are feeling guilty?"

"Stop it! Two wrongs don't make a right. I'm more a bully than she ever was."

"Did your Mommy bestow such righteous morals upon you?" Q leaned toward her, so to whisper into her ear. "You can bring her back, you know."

"How?"

"I've given you the ability."

"I don't want it!" She shook her head as though trying to fling the power from her. "Why did you let me send Tammy away? Why did you give me that power and not tell me how to use it?" Why was it that Q always found himself offering the power of Q to an ungrateful recipient? He compared this to the last, recalling how Commander Riker's ego had been inflated by the power of Q and yet in the end, the fool had chosen to return to a life of limited opportunities.

"My dear child, the best discoveries come through experimentation. Besides, the little parasite was annoying you. She had it coming, and I must say, she is in the most appropriate place for one so obnoxious. We've done her a favor, you and I, by offering her a metaphorical corner to sit in and contemplate the lesson to be learned."

Shannara shook her head again. "I shouldn't be the one to punish her. She has parents. That's their job. I get into enough trouble without your help!"

"Tsk. Tsk. Snap your fingers, then, and bring her back."

Although she rolled her eyes, Shannara raised her hand, bringing her fingers together. Instantly, they returned to her bedroom.

"She's back," the entity said with a silly grin.

"Just like that? Is it really that simple?"

Q chuckled. "You are racking up the points. I knew you had it in you."

"Who are you?"

"Questions. Questions. My dear, sweet child, the answers you seek will come in due time.

She fixed him dubiously. "When you first came, you said you would grant my wish. So why do you refuse to tell me who you are."

Q sat on the edge of her bed. "Why waste time with trivial introductions? What you want-what I can offer you should be the focus of our concern. Do you understand?"

"I think so. You want to teach me."

"Oh you, do live up to my expectations. Brilliant, brilliant. Such a high IQ, and I, Q, will help bring it to a fold."

"Q," Shannara said, musing over the infamous letter of the alphabet. "So that is your name. Just Q."

Q patted the bed, hoping to coax the child nearer. "Ding ding. That wins you ten bonus points Lesson one has ended. It is time to move on to the next level. I can show you what lies beyond your wildest imagination. I can enlighten your mind with the secrets of the universe. I only ask that you severe your ties to this mundane existence."

"For how long?"

"For eternity, of course. I am to become your father."

"I already have a father!" Shannara exclaimed, baring her teeth. "I do not want to play this game any more!"

"Shannara, your complexities challenge the very existence of your people. You are the very thread that holds this universe together. You handle the power of the Q without guidance, you solve mind puzzles with only the simplest of hints, and yet you do not accept that I am responsible for your life."

Turning away from Q, Shannara screamed, "You are not my creator!"

The second lesson will take a bit longer, Q realized and popped out of her room.

Several hours later. . . .

Sitting in his command chair on the bridge, Riker stared at the viewscreen, but he was not watching the stars streaking by. He was thinking about a conversation he had had earlier with Deanna and Worf's daughter. Why had Q chosen to play his menacing games with a six- year old? "He had a funny name, too," Shannara had told them. "He made me answer a riddle to figure it out. Just one letter, Q!"

Riker thought back on every encounter he and Picard had had with the meddlesome entity and clenched his fists. What power trip was Q on now? Why had he given Shannara powers of the Q without warning her? He had allowed her to vanquish a playmate by sending her into oblivion simply so he could demonstrate how _easy_ it was to bring her back. Tammy Reeve had been returned unharmed, but what harm had Q done to Shannara Rozhenko's mind?

"Is anything wrong, sir?" Data, his first officer, asked from the chair beside him.

"Quite frankly, yes," the captain replied.

"I understand, sir. As captain, you feel the burden of responsibility where Q is concerned. If you would like my input on his possible motivation for visiting Shannara Rozhenko, I believe it could be targeted at Worf."

Riker glanced back at his tactical officer. Although the Klingon was dutifully at work, his fiery eyes and the growl hovering at his lips gave away his thoughts of contempt. "Go on."

"On numerous occasions, Q has treated Commander Worf as a member of the most inferior species."

"That would seem a reason for Q to _not_ show an interest in Shannara." Sometimes, Riker wondered if Q ever needed a reason, any reason, to spread his havoc.

Suddenly, Q popped in sitting on the ops console. "Oh, come, come now, Captain. I took you for one with more intelligence than that."

Not unexpectedly, Worf jumped over his horseshoe-shaped console to lunge toward Q. However, Commander Data intercepted him. "It would not be wise to react with violence," the android said.

"That's the only way microbrain knows how to react," Q said with a laugh in his voice.

With a growl, the Klingon raised his arm to deliver a blow.

"At ease, Mr. Worf," Riker ordered. He stood, feeling a bit haughty himself. The Klingon backed off-barely. "I understand your concern for your daughter, but you certainly realize that violence will not work with Q." He turned toward the intruder. "Q, I want to speak with you in my ready room. Now!"

Q shrugged. "As you wish, mein Kapitan." In a flash, they were inside the ready room.

"I would have preferred to have walked," Riker said as he took his seat behind his desk. "But now that you've graced us with your presence again, Q, would you mind explaining why you've chosen a six-year old girl as your latest target?"

"Target?" Q said, clutching his chest. "I don't think I like the implications of that. Shannara is my subject, my protege. It is my desire-"

"Your what! Q, the last time you pulled this kind of stunt, you had me playing some sort of god-like creature. No good can come from having that much power. I beg of you, please, leave Shannara Rozhenko alone."

"You had your chance, Riker." Q pressed his hands firmly on the captain's desk. " Don't spoil it for the child. She is like a wilting flower in a burnt out culture. She's floundering in this metal crater you call home, with no bearing, no purpose. I'm here to offer her direction, to guide her toward the greatness she is truly capable of."

"Why her? Why not some other child light years away? Why of all children did you choose Worf's daughter? Is it because you despise him so much?"

"No, no, no." The entity shook his head as he spoke. "You really are obtuse. She's been aboard your ship since the day of her birth, and yet you remain completely blind to the truth."

"What truth, Q? Why is she so damned important to you?"

"Have you ever stopped and noticed her? I mean really paid attention to her? She's brilliant, Riker!" Q stood up straight, and Riker was amazed by the glow he saw in the entity as he spoke. "Her IQ is one of the highest among her race-well, either of them. It amazes me that none of you imbeciles has ever bothered to test her intelligence."

"I will not allow you or any other member of the Q-Continuum to corrupt her. She is not a Q and never will be! I don't care how intelligent she is."

Q leaned forward again, nearly kissing distance from Riker. "Test her. What have you got to lose?" With a flash, he was gone.

Riker contemplated Q's question very carefully. What did they have to lose, indeed? Where Q was concerned, Riker had to be certain that he analyzed each situation from every possible definable angle. The entity was notorious for word puzzles, puns, metaphors and the like. Test Shannara's intelligence. What possible reason would Q have to lie about such a thing? Riker could think of none, and so he paged the ship's schoolteacher.

"Mrs. Dewberry, could you dismiss class early today?" he asked of her. "I have a special assignment for you."

"What sort of assignment?"

"I'd like you to conduct some intelligence tests on Shannara Rozhenko."

Less than two hours later, the schoolteacher visited the captain in his ready room with the results of her tests. "Shannara did better on the verbal and mathematical tests than any child I've ever tested." She handed a data padd to Riker. "As for the final results of the visual test, I'm still waiting to hear back from Dr. Selar. "

"If she did as well as you say she did," Riker began, "then why didn't you suggest having her tested yourself? Why did we have to wait for a meddlesome entity to recognize her talents?"

"I don't know. I have no excuse."

After browsing through the information on the padd, Riker said, "You're dismissed." As the teacher stepped out, Riker wondered if he had been too harsh on her. After all, she dealt with many children day to day of varying ages and educational development. He considered calling her back, but before he could make that decision, Q popped in.

"I would say I told you so," the entity said. "But I would gain no pleasure in that. Perhaps now you understand why I have chosen Shannara Rozhenko as my protege. She _will_ become my child when the Continuum accepts her into the fold."

Riker acknowledged Q with eye contact, but his words were directed at his first officer as he pressed his comm button. "Commander Data, I'd like to see you in my ready room."

"On my way, sir," the android replied and a few seconds later, Data walked through the door. "Yes, sir?" he asked, barely acknowledging Q's presence.

"Shannara Rozhenko needs something to challenge her. I'd like you to act as her mentor." Normally, Riker probably would have advised her teacher to advance her a couple of grades in the classroom, but with Q standing by ready to take on the role of mentor, the captain felt an alternative solution was necessary.

"The android could never offer her half the knowledge I could," Q admonished. "She craves adventure. She wants to explore. She'll grow stagnant cooped up on this ship with nothing more entertaining than a few holodeck programs."

"Mr Data," Riker said, "I would like you to pay young Shannara a visit immediately."

"Aye, sir."

"You'll regret this, Captain!" Q flashed out.

"No, I won't," Riker promised.

Floating in between planes, Q mulled over his next move. He could pop in on Shannara while she was with the android. Yet somehow he felt he should wait until she was alone. Why? Out of respect? Did he really feel that way toward the girl? He had molded this universe with his mere thoughts, and he could destroy it with a snap of his fingers. But he had found a new purpose in this parallel universe, a purpose that even Q could not deny anymore even if she tried. And she most certainly was one to try! Now, more than ever, Q was prepared to show her that he was worthy of raising his status to High-Q. He was ready for the ultimate challenge: Fatherhood.

Q did not plant their seed or give birth in the sense mortal beings thought of as procreating. A Q simply thought and something came into existence. Q thought, and Shannara was. How deliciously funny that Microbrain owed it all to his biggest nemesis.

"I understand that Commander Data has offered to become your mentor," Q said as he once again appeared in Shannara's room. The android had left hours ago. Yet Q had waited- and watched. And Q was well aware of Worf's presence in the next room.

Startled, she turned toward him. She didn't appear as frightened as before. "Yes, and I've accepted his offer. He'll be giving me my first lesson tomorrow."

Q sat down on the carpet beside her. "Oh Shannara, I could teach you so much more."

"Why would you want to? Everyone tells me that all you like to do is play games and mess with people's minds."

"You mean so much more to me than they do," Q said, trying to wear his most sincere face. "I simply try to challenge their feeble minds. Come with me and I'll show you the wonders of the universe. Your wasting away on this starship."

A look of amazement came over Shannara. "That's exactly what Mrs. Dewberry said to me."

"Indeed. If such a shallow woman can see it, then it must be true."

"That's not a nice thing to say. Mrs. Dewberry has shown me more respect than you have!"

Q decided not to argue that point. The teacher would be forgotten over time, just one more of the countless mortals who could not see Shannara for who she really was, and therefore, not nurture her true calling. No one could nurture her as Q could.

"Mrs. Dewberry ran some tests on you, correct?"

"She said they wanted to know how intelligent I am."

"Then would it be all right if I conducted a test of my own?"

Shannara considered this, fixing Q with a leery eye. Q expected this, would have even been disappointed if she hadn't questioned his motive. "I guess so."

"Ask me three 'yes or no' questions, and I shall answer them honestly."

"Are you responsible for my being so smart?"

"Yes." Too direct, too simple a question. Q certainly hoped Shannara could do better than that.

"When you gave me the power to send Tammy away, you made me smarter?"

"No. Much sooner than that. No one took notice of you. Even without encouragement, the most brilliant of minds can turn to fodder. That's why I chose to step in-before this mundane world causes you to fall short of your potential. One more question. Make it a good one."

"My parents want Commander Data to become my mentor. They must really hate you a lot."

"Do you hate me?" Even as he asked, Q realized their roles were reversing. He needed to know-if only one of his creations could learn to love and trust him. Among the vast experiences Q had accomplished over the millennia, he had yet to experience something many fathers took for granted-a little filial devotion.

"I don't know you."

For one fleeting second, Q knew what it felt like to have one's heart crushed. He had grown to know Shannara so well, watching over her during her first six years, that he had forgotten to consider her viewpoint. He was a stranger to her. A nothing.

"Do you make your judgments based on what other people believe or would you like the opportunity to decide for yourself?"

"Who's the one asking questions here?" Shannara quipped. After a moment of silence, in which Q barely held his tongue in check, she offered, "Okay, I'll give you a chance. Do you have any family?"

Q thought back to the entity who had brought him into the Continuum so many millennia ago. Q had promised to guide and nurture him to his full potential. For a time, Q had, and then without warning, he had turned away from his protégé, in essence his son, never to speak with him again. What was Q now to him? Certainly not a father figure. He wasn't anything. Q vowed that if Shannara ever agreed to join him, he would never turn away from her.

"That's my third question. Answer it!"

"No. I have no family." I cannot be this close to tears! Q screamed inside his head.

"That's really sad." Shannara placed her hand on top of his. "I'm sorry you have no family, but I can't be your little girl. I already have a daddy."

Nodding reflectively, Q had to redirect this exchange-quickly. "How about another game of the utmost delight? I can teach you how to travel the stars and to arrive anywhere in a mere blink of an eye."

"Would you show me how to get back home afterward?"

"Home, such a subjective word. Do you really consider this bucket of bolts your home?"

"Home is wherever your fam-"

She'll never agree to join you," Q's words echoed in his head. A Klingon in any universe is bellicose and unruly whether you created that universe or not. She had overlooked one factor, though, Q realized as Shannara scooted closer to offer him a hug. Shannara was not completely Klingon and that empathic Betazoid part of her had been awakened prematurely.

"Come with me," he beckoned.

She looked up to him with glassy brown eyes, and for a fleeting moment, he believed she would say yes. "I'm sorry, but I already have a family. If I go with you, I would really miss them."

He pulled away from her and stood. "You are still young, the umbilical cord barely severed. I can be patient. I can wait."

"It won't make a difference."

He bent down to look her in the face. "You'll go nowhere without me," he promised and flashed out.

Q thought about returning to the Continuum to work on his next game plan. He could bid his time a while longer. His universe was a safe haven for Shannara to continue to develop like a chick in an incubator. However, he decided he had to pay one more visit before disappearing for a while.

Worf was staring out the viewwindow, but quickly turned, pulling out his phaser in mid- stride as Q flashed into the room. "Remove yourself from my quarters!" he growled.

"Put that toy away," Q said in his usual lilting tone as he stepped closer to the Klingon. "I have just spoken with your daughter."

"You stay away from her!"

"How do you plan to stop me?"

"There is nothing more honorable than dying to protect one's child."

"Oh, that's a real viable solution. I could leave your daughter alone, if I chose. I could also snap my fingers and the universe, as you now know it, would disappear. You see, I created this universe. I could unravel it like a loose thread in a blanket."

"You are spreading lies!"

"Believe what you wish, but without my handiwork, Shannara would not exist. You would not be married to the lovely counselor. Where would you be. . .let's see. . .probably on some alien-made space station, growing more surly by the day. Admit it, you would be nothing without the good counselor. She balances you in a way you would never have allowed another soul."

"I am supposed to believe that someone who despises me would bless me with a wife and two children? Hah!"

"I couldn't resist the irony. . .Microbrain. One so intelligent from the loins of one so. . .so. How should I put it? Your son was just an added bonus."

Worf bared his teeth.

"At ease, Commander. I don't intend Shannara any harm. But I will return for her. I can promise you that!"

Worf charged after Q, but met only air. His nemesis had already returned to the Continuum.


End file.
